Collab between BigBlueBarry and Audiorayne

[audiorayne]

Dec 19, 2008, 2:21pm, aubreyz wrote:Hey guys... congrats on the collab. I'm a fan of your work anyway, but it's great to hear your talents together. All the kudos in this thread are well deserved. Good work!But... I think you guys need to tweak this out some more, and here's why. That hook is slamming... Logan's voice is amazing as usual. IMHO this steps you up to a different league where the competition or goal is not about the forward--- it's higher than that. Some others mentioned that stylistically it might not fit this listing perfectly, and I think that's valid, but this is very forward worthy on it's own.In that "higher" league, this is definitely close to the mark, but IMHO is not quite there yet from both a writing and production standpoint. It has all the potential to "knock socks off" at every level, but here's some things to consider. (It's worth noting that I'm taking into consideration that I'm listening to a 128k stream, and that I've been chewing on this for a couple of days.):1. First Impression: Starting off with the hook is cool. Grabs attention - works well... but then it's nearly 20 sec's till the verse kicks. IMHO the power chord progression lacks a melodic or sonic hook that justifies it's place of prominence there... and the synth break is kinda cool, but it's not very unique sounding. Keep in mind that I don't think any of this would stop it from being forwarded, but if you are shooting for the Nickelback moon... gotta blow 'em away.2. The verses need lyrical work. Too many cliched typical rhymes. Once again, probably fine for a placement but that element doesn't have the same wow factor as the rest of the track. I find myself waiting through the verses, like they are just a delay for the chorus.3. Mix and production is pretty good, but the drums don't have that bigger than life hit sound. Also-- the vocals seem apart from the track-- almost like it's not all glued together. Just to make sure that I wasn't being fooled by the stream quality, I AB'd some myspace tracks from some of the listed ala's. What I'm trying to say is that this is sooooo in the ballpark, but just shy of the home run fence.Don't mean to come off as aloof here and if I had more time I'd give you a better play by play of some mix things. Heck, I'd love to mix this on my dime, but think at least the verse lyrics need to be fixed first.Really good stuff guys. I'm just trying to encourage you not to stop short of the moon. You got the goods for the trip.Aub Hey Aub, I love getting this kind of feedback. Thanks for spending the time to comment so thoroughly. I'm still pretty amazed by the "in another league" thing, considering that this track didn't even exist a week ago. I love the part about the "Nickelback moon" and now that we know we're on the right track and that there's a bar we can realistically meet, we're definitely going to do whatever is needed to knock those socks off.... Cheers!-AR

[partyofone]

DUDE.. you guys have BLOWN me away on this one!!! Great job!!! The guitar tone is sick.. very thick but NOT muddy somehow (I've VERY jealous ha ha). The singing is great and song is strong melodically and structural wise I believe. Overall top-notch all over IMHO!I'll echo Aub on the vocals needing a bit o' glue in there somehow. Perhaps some compression tweaks??? Congrats.. I'm sure you'll get placements on this track.PS If you don't mind me asking.. how did track you guitars (ie kind of guitar, amp or model, number of tracks)?

[partyofone]

Hi AR, yeah I'm no mixing expert for sure but on 2nd listen I'm think just some MORE compression. Maybe Aub or someone with more experience can comment more, but to me I don't QUITE hear the ultra-smoothness and eveness of level that I'd like in the vocal. Little sylabbles jump out here and there. Of course to over-compress can take the life out of the vocal so I know there's a fine line there. Perhaps a slightly fast attack setting on the current compression you have might help. Again, I'm no expert but just some thoughts.

[bigbluebarry]

Dec 19, 2008, 5:51pm, rfrey wrote:I really love this. I love what you did with the spacing of the guitars. You must have gone to Fett's session on recording guitars! Way way cool!RichHey Rich, thanks! I didn't make it to his sessions at the Rally BUT... I have been to his studio quite a few times and we most definitely talked about guitars and guitar spacing Good call!- Big Blue

[bigbluebarry]

Dec 19, 2008, 8:05pm, southpaw wrote:Im sure you've got the message by now that this song friggin Rocks! You are both very talented. Both worlds seem to have come together to create a fantastic song. Production wise, i would make the lead vocal a little 'thicker', and more pronounced in the chorus, i liked the way they sat during the other sections, but the chorus i wanted the vocals to explode a little more, Audioraynes vocals are very powerful in delivery...I would try to "exploit" to give them a larger presence. Perhaps some harmonizing that lay underneath the LV, maybe some modulation... Anyway there are tons of different ways to go after it im sure you have your techniques, as it sounds as though you have quite a firm handle on production.. Chuckle.Keep it up, look forward to hearing more!JamieThanks for your comments Jamie! We're still tweaking around with some of the mix. We'll be posting a re-mixed version at some point in the next week or so.- Big Blue

[bigbluebarry]

Dec 21, 2008, 12:23pm, partyofone wrote:DUDE.. you guys have BLOWN me away on this one!!! Great job!!! The guitar tone is sick.. very thick but NOT muddy somehow (I've VERY jealous ha ha). The singing is great and song is strong melodically and structural wise I believe. Overall top-notch all over IMHO!I'll echo Aub on the vocals needing a bit o' glue in there somehow. Perhaps some compression tweaks??? Congrats.. I'm sure you'll get placements on this track.PS If you don't mind me asking.. how did track you guitars (ie kind of guitar, amp or model, number of tracks)?Thanks Patrick! Regarding the vocals, I've been toying around with some compression on the vox and I think I've got it sitting in the mix better now. I haven't uploaded the re-mixed version yet but will be doing so sometime this week.Now about those guitars... first off.. Thank you I tracked them with a Schecter C-1 Artist Limited Edition guitar with the stock pickups. I tuned the entire guitar down a step and then dropped the low string another step so I'm in Drop C tuning. Each guitar was tracked twice. The left channel guitars were using the bridge pickup and the right channel guitars were with the neck pickup. The "melody" guitar in the bridge was with the bridge pickup. I recorded all of the guitars direct using the Guitar Rig 3 plug-in. I don't remember off hand which amp settings I used but I'll look them up later and let you know though I believe it was the amp that simulates the Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier. Thanks again!- Big Blue

[partyofone]

BB,Can't wait to hear the remix. Drop C huh?? That's awesome ha ha! I've experimented with drop d but never have ventured that low I don't think. And I'll be... Guitar Rig huh? Well, I gotta say you've made me a believer of it! I played with version 1 and.. although it sounds funny to say this now.. I seriously thought the distorted sounds were just too thin!! (For that matter I have a POD 2.0 and I've had a problem with heavy sounds on most modelers not sounding right. That's why I sold my Boogie DC-5 and bought the Boogie Studio Preamp to record direct.)And what you mentioned above on creating space for guitars.. that's something I've studied a lot online (i.e. complitmentary EQ'ing and such) but have not mastered. Maybe I need to stop by and have a talk with Fett ha ha!Thanks for sharing man!

[geo]

Awesome!!!!!! Great stuff guys.... Maybe push up the harmonies on the chorus a bit...That's all I got without launching into superlatives !!!!Peace, Geo

[liamkelly]

Just got two words for you guys...... RIGHT ON!!Very good work. Wow

[bigbluebarry]

Dec 22, 2008, 8:33pm, partyofone wrote:BB,Can't wait to hear the remix. Drop C huh?? That's awesome ha ha! I've experimented with drop d but never have ventured that low I don't think. And I'll be... Guitar Rig huh? Well, I gotta say you've made me a believer of it! I played with version 1 and.. although it sounds funny to say this now.. I seriously thought the distorted sounds were just too thin!! (For that matter I have a POD 2.0 and I've had a problem with heavy sounds on most modelers not sounding right. That's why I sold my Boogie DC-5 and bought the Boogie Studio Preamp to record direct.)And what you mentioned above on creating space for guitars.. that's something I've studied a lot online (i.e. complitmentary EQ'ing and such) but have not mastered. Maybe I need to stop by and have a talk with Fett ha ha!Thanks for sharing man!Hey Patrick,Here are the settings I used for the guitars...Shecter C-1 Artist Edition with the factory dual humbuckers (5-way switch)Left Channel - "Instant Gratifier" with Vintage Crunch (bridge pickup)Right Channel - "Instant Gratifier" with Modern Scoop (middle pickup)Melody Guitar during bridge - "instant Gratifier" with Modern Scoop (bridge pickup)Breakdown - "Ultrasonic" with Crunch O'Sonic (bridge)I don't think I tweaked the presets at all. I also used the Izotope Trash plug-in on the Breakdown guitar part, as well as a the stock 7 band Digi EQ on the guitars to roll off some low's and high's and boost some of the mid's (hat tip to AllenDS for some ideas he passed along for a different song). I never heard Guitar Rig 1 so I can't speak on that, but dude, Guitar Rig 3 is AWESOME! I've made a believer out of Fett with it too If you have the time to meet up with him, I'd encourage it. He's got a lot of knowledge and is just a cool guy to hang with as well.- Big Blue